Life's About Changing
by TheMikoShivae
Summary: Someone dies.  How does Kagome deal?  AU.


Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi or Patty Loveless' How Can I Help You To Say Good-Bye

A/N: This is for the Summer MiniFic Contest On MediaMiner, though I also plan on posting it on About Changing

Today was the day of her grandfather's funeral. Dressed in a black pant suit, Kagome gets in her car to go to the funeral. With the death of her grandfather, the only person she has left in her life is her little brother, Souta. As she heads to the family shrine where the service is to take place, she turns on the radio. The DJ announces the next song as it starts playing. Unfortunately for Kagome, it brings back way too many memories.

_Through the back window of a 59 wagon  
I watch my best friend Janey slipping further away  
I kept on waving, til I couldn't see her  
And through my tears I ask again why we couldn't stay  
Mama whispered softly, time will ease your pain  
Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same  
And she said, how can I help you to say good-bye  
It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry  
Come let me hold you and I will try  
How can I help you to say good-bye_

Kagome feels the tears well up as she remembers the day she had to say good-bye to her best friends Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi. She was eight years old and Souta was three. Her mother had gotten a new job in Tokyo, and they were moving in with Kagome's grandfather at the family shrine. It hurt her so much to have to say good-bye to her three best friends, knowing she would probably never see them again. She had spent the whole weekend before the move with them, as a final good-bye. As they were pulling away from her old home in Kyoto, she kept looking out the back window of her mother's Honda, waving a farewell to the three pieces of sunshine in her life.

**Flashback**

As she waved to her friends from the back window, she asked her mother, "Momma, why do we have to leave? I want to stay here with my friends!"

Her mother replied softly, "Kagome, dear, you know why we are moving. I have a really good new job in Tokyo, and it is going to save us a lot of money by staying at the family shrine and not have to pay rent. In time you will come to terms with this move. Life doesn't stay the same forever, dear."

Soon her three friends were out of sight. Kagome cried her eyes out the rest of the trip to the shrine in Tokyo.

**End of Flashback**

Her mother had been right. After a few months of living in Tokyo and going to her new school, she had made new friends. She still remembered her old friends to this day, but she had no longer moped about, wishing for her old life back.

__

I sit on our bed  
He packs his suitcase  
I held a picture of our wedding day  
His hands were trembling  
We both were crying  
He kissed me gently, then he quickly walked away

I called up mama, she said time will ease your pain  
Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same  
And she said, how can I help you to say good-bye  
It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry  
Come let me hold you, and I will try  
How can I help you to say good-bye

This second verse brought up even more hard memories. After three years of marriage to the man she thought she would love forever, he left. He left her for some new fling. She felt like she was an old toy, being thrown to the side when something new and better came out. The only good thing to come out of the end of this was that she didn't have any children to have to go through the pain of their father leaving them. That was one thing she had been thankful for when he left.

After the divorce was final, Kagome had gone through two long years of counseling. She had been so depressed about him leaving. She blamed herself. She thought she wasn't good enough to be loved by anyone. She had cried herself to sleep every night for a whole year since he left. In the end, she finally got over his leaving by talking to her mother, who again told her life was about changing, and that maybe it was for the best that he left when he did. Kagome was still a fairly young woman after all, and could probably get married again.

Kagome didn't want to get married ever again though. She had been hurt badly and didn't think she could ever trust another man with her heart again.

As she listened to the final verse of the song, her pain became uncontrollable. She had to pull over to the side of the road to make sure she didn't cause an accident in her wretched state. Why did her life have to be so depressing? Why did it seem like the Gods were against her very soul? __

Sitting with mama,  
Alone in her bedroom  
She opened her eyes, and then squeezed my hand  
She said, I have to go now  
My time here is over  
And with her final words, she tried to help me understand  
Mama whispered softly, time will ease your pain  
Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same  
And she said, how can I help you to say good-bye  
It's okay to hurt, and it's okay to cry  
Come let me hold you, and I will try  
How can I help you,  
To say good-bye  


As the song ended, Kagome thought of the day she lost her mother. Her mother had said something along the same lines as the song. She had told Kagome that life was about changing. Everything has to change sometime, including Kagome's seemingly bad luck in love. Her mother had told her that one day she would find a man who truly made her whole again. 'Things happen for a reason.'

Kagome pulled herself together and pulled back into traffic. **As she passed the Veteran's Building, she saw a flag at half-mast.** Her grandfather had been the historian for them. This brought a **vision **to her mind of when she was fifteen.

**Flashback**

**Kagome was sitting in the living room of the house at the shrine she had called home for seven years now. Her grandfather was going through boxes of stuff for the veterans. He had enlisted her to help him sort through some of the stuff, hoping to teach her a little history in the process.**

**"Kagome, look at this! It is an old sword from the warring states era. Its name is Tenseiga, or "The Healing Sword". It is said to have been wielded by a great dog demon. Nobody knows what happened to the wielder of this sword, but it was brought to us in the nineteenth century by a traveler from the west coast."**

**Kagome, of course, is uninterested by history. She mutters, "Uh-huh, gramps." All she wants to do is get through this junk and go to the mall with her friends Sango, Rin, and Ayame. **

**Her grandfather senses her disdain, and decides to let her go. No use trying to teach her if she refuses to learn. "Kagome, I know you want to go meet your friends. Go on now, girl. I just hope you learn history before it decides to repeat itself."**

**End of Flashback**

She sighs, remembering that day vividly. She had been too caught up with her own life to care about anything, much less the history behind a sword. Now she was coming to the shrine to say her final good-bye to the one person that had been like a father to her. He had always wanted the best for her, and now he was gone from this world. He had never approved of her now ex-husband, and had made that very clear the first time he met Hojo.

As she parked on the street and made her way to the top of the shrine steps, she feels like her whole reason for living had been ripped from her life. She greeted the priest who was to perform the ceremony when she arrived at the top. She then started greeting visitors as they came up to the top of the steps as well.

She gave a soft smile as she saw her old high school friends coming up the long set of stairs. Ayame and her husband Koga came to her first, giving their condolences for the loss of her grandfather, who had been such a wonderful man and an inspiration to many people. Then came Rin and her fiancé Sesshoumaru. The couple also offered their well wishes. Finally came her best friends, Miroku and Sango. They had gotten married right out of high school. They were joined by their three beautiful children, Kohaku, Kinji, and Kanna. What surprised Kagome is, after they had introduced their children, Miroku turned around and pulled a complete stranger from behind him.

"This is Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is our best friend from high school, Kagome. Inuyasha went to our college." Miroku said pointedly. Upon shaking each others' hand, they all went up to where the service was to start.

The service was beautiful. There were about one hundred people at the service, and about half of them were sobbing loudly. After everyone had left, Kagome finally said her final good-bye to her grandfather, while Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha waited by the stairs for her. "Oh Grandpa! I can't believe that you are gone. I know you are looking down on me from heaven right now, and keeping an eye on me. I will take care of Souta for you all." She starts wailing here. "I love you so much. Please tell Mom and Dad I miss them! I will miss you too, Grandpa. Just know that someday, I will meet up with you all in heaven." She laid her hand on the box, crying uncontrollably, and then walked away to meet her friends at the stairs. They were all going out to dinner to help Kagome feel a little better, even though they knew it would be a little while before she was done grieving.

_Fin_

_A/N:_ Again, this is for Mediaminers contest. For those of you on FF, I may be willing to do a sequel or make this a two shot if I get enough reviews. If not, it will remain the original one shot that it is now.


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